Is Rahul Dravid boss of the Indian team?

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September 25, 2006 12:35 IST

Victory, to loosely paraphrase a popular quote, has many fathers, while defeat is an orphan.

At this moment, Indian captain Rahul Dravid must be ruing the truth in that statement. For under him the Indian XI, despite the nearly billion people backing them, fared so poorly in the recent DLF Cup in Kuala Lumpur that there are few positives to come out of the tour.

The batting top order didn't click when the bowlers did their job, or the bowlers didn't fire when the batsmen did. The bigger tragedy is that this messy show comes just six months ahead of the World Cup.

Former skipper Ravi Shastri feels it is time Dravid asserted himself over coach Greg Chappell and took over the decision-making himself. 'Dravid should stand up and say he is the boss and that he controls matters. He should get an eleven of his choice.' Also, experiments with the batting order, like that involving Virender Sehwag and Dravid, must stop. 'It's time Chappell stopped his experiments with the team,' Shastri said.

Do you agree the coach has taken over the team's management from Dravid? How much do you think Dravid is in charge of the team? What would you tell Dravid to do? Tell us!